The Tidewater Cook

Your main traits

• marine
• iodine
• mineral
• fresh

Your aromatic portrait

You live near the water or you dream of it. You eat oysters in winter, sea bream tartare in summer, sea urchin when you can get it. You love iodine, raw salinity, lemon squeezed over something just-pulled. You hate overcooking, fatty sauces, spices that take over. You chase the mineral: sea salt, fleur de sel, Halen Môn, Persian blue salt for the look of it. You're no fan of hot peppers. You'd take a softer, more mineral white pepper, or a quiet Sansho. You cook simple: a fish seared on one side, shellfish in a quick court-bouillon, raw seafood with a few flakes of salt. You care enormously about salt quality, you taste several, you compare, you keep more than one on the counter. Cider vinegar rides along on your oysters.

Your 5 signature products

1. 1

   

   Salt · Fleur de sel

   Fleur de Sel de Guérande

   Guérande peninsula, Loire-Atlantique, France (PGI)

   « Fleur de sel de Guérande, crunchy and briny, is your reference salt on raw fish, shellfish, and the whole seafood plate. Plate to fork, never in the pan. »

2. 2

   

   Salt · Flaky sea salt

   Halen Môn Sea Salt

   Anglesey, Menai Strait, Wales (PDO)

   « Halen Môn from Anglesey, finer and purer, trades up for raw scallops and sashimi. PDO-protected, about $9 a tub, proper provenance. »

3. 3

   

   Pepper · White pepper

   Penja White Pepper

   Penja Valley, Littoral region, Cameroon (PGI)

   « Penja white, softer and more mineral than black, sits perfectly on white fish and shellfish without ever taking the lead. »

4. 4

   

   Vinegar · Raw cider vinegar

   Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

   Vermont (US) · Herefordshire (UK), traditional cider-apple country, United States / United Kingdom

   « Raw apple cider vinegar, fruity and light, is your oyster mignonette and your marine vinaigrettes. A shallot and a splash, done. »

5. 5

   

   Salt · Rock salt

   Persian Blue Salt

   Semnan province, central desert mines, Iran

   « Persian blue salt, more complex and visually striking, signs your seafood platters for the big occasions. Splurge: it's the look as much as the taste. »

Your signature dishes

• oysters on the half shell
• sea bass tartare
• raw scallops

Your go-to occasions

seafood, summer meals by the water